1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gas chromatograph apparatus for separating components of a sample using a column and analyzing the separated components. The gas chromatograph apparatus of the present invention may be implemented using any type of detector, which means that it includes a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS).
2. Description of the Background Art
Heretofore, as means for verifying whether gas chromatographic (GC) analysis is normally performed in a gas chromatograph (GC) apparatus, an inspection has been carried out in such a manner that a given compound is subjected to GC analysis using a certain column and under certain analysis conditions to obtain a retention time thereof and register the obtained retention time as a reference retention time, and, at an appropriate subsequent timing, the given compound is subjected to GC analysis using the same column and under the same analysis conditions to obtain an actual retention time thereof and compare the actual retention time with the registered reference retention time. However, in case where there is a difference (deviation) between the actual and reference retention times, an assumed factor causing the difference includes a considerable number of malfunctions of the apparatus and errors in analytical procedure. Thus, although the presence or absence of abnormality in analysis can be evaluated, it is difficult to identify a causal factor of the abnormality.
As means for evaluating a level of degradation in a column as one consumable component, there has been known a technique using a retention index of a given substance with respect to a reference substance (typically, n-alkane), as disclosed in the following Patent Document 1. This technique makes it possible to accurately evaluate the column degradation level, so that a maintenance operation, such as cutoff of an inlet end of a column or replacement of a column, can be performed at an appropriate timing. However, even in inspection based on the retention index, abnormality in the analysis is not always caused by only column degradation but can be caused by another factor.
[Patent Document 1] JP 2006-292446A